Mission Statement

As part of the federal government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Eye Institute’s mission is to “conduct and support research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to blinding eye diseases, visual disorders, mechanisms of visual function, preservation of sight, and the special health problems and requirements of the blind.”

Anne L. Coleman, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed chair of the National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP) Planning Committee. Dr. Coleman, who is professor of Ophthalmology and Epidemiology/Public Health at the University of California, Los...

I am pleased that President Obama has chosen to nominate Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., to be the next NIH director. As a clinician-scientist with medical genetics expertise, Dr. Collins possesses a keen understanding of the need for science,...

Ian M. MacDonald, M.D., a clinician scientist internationally recognized for his genetic research into a retinal degenerative disease known as choroideremia and into certain types of macular degeneration, has recently joined the National Eye...

Dr. Emily Chew was recently elected to the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Board of Trustees. She will serve as a Clinical/Epidemiologic Research Trustee. The board is comprised of elected members from ARVO’s 13...

Deborah Carper, Ph.D., has been appointed to the position of deputy director of the National Eye Institute (NEI). She has served as the NEI acting deputy director since March 2009. She will be the first female deputy director in the NEI’s 40-year...

David L. Whitmer has been appointed to the position of associate director for management and executive officer of the National Eye Institute (NEI). NEI director Paul A. Sieving, M.D., Ph.D., said, “We are very pleased to have an executive officer...